Did both of these together as usual. Cold morning and a very cold night. Had some frost inside the tent and on my sleeping bag. The creek was beautiful with all the ice however, pale blue Windex colour.

I spent a very intense summer backpacking from base camp to base camp between Leadville and Silverton and climbing nearly every Centennial Thirteener and Fourteener along the way (that I had not yet climbed) All told that was 40 peaks and hundreds of miles of backpacking in two months.

This particular mountain was special because my mom came to resupply me here and decided to climb Redcloud with me. The year before we had climbed Crystal Peak (13,8xx or 9xx)in the Mos-Ten and the year before that Parkview Mountain (12, 5xx) in the Rabbit Ears. Redcloud was to be her first 14er. No Elbert or Greys for her, diving right into the San Juans instead.

I made sure we got a super early start and could hike very moderately on what I found to be the absolute most pleasant class 2 14'er route in the entire state. I could spend a lifetime in the gentle bowl beneath the east side of Redcloud. It took us five hours to summit. From there I ran across to Sunshine and back and we then hiked down. The next day I hit UN 13, 832 and 13,811 along the same ridge.

The real mountaineering part of the trip began shortly after this climb as I got into the Grenadiers and Needles.

The straight forward trail was obliterated under 6"-12" of snow above 12,800' making for a great snow climb. Needed ice axe for the early morning ascent for safety on crusty snow on a few steep sections.

Jathan Cantu and Todd Schauer reached the summit of Redcloud Peak at 11:00am, our first fourteener!! The weather was overcast with intermittent sun most of the day, cooperating enough for us to reach Sunshine Peak around noon--our second fourteener. Soon light rain and tiny hail arrived, which came and went, as we downclimbed through the talus field via South Fork Valley. The sun and moisture made for a beautiful rainbow across the head of the valley looking down from Sunshine Peak. Another interesting scene was seeing the South Fork stream seemingly come out of nowhere from the side of a steep talus slope. You would think we were on another planet surrounded by the jagged cliffs and red peaks. Next stop...Handies Peak!

Overall this is a nice trail. When we climbed in 2001 there was a large area of compacted slushy shnow that had to be carefully navigated. Yet, other than that one obstacle, the trail was relatively easy.

Finished Handies and felt I had to do some more so I went for Redcloud and barely made it in time, very windy at the top and visibility was dropping so Sunshine was not an option, fun easy hike though!

"So I was sitting in my cubicle today, and I realized, ever since I started working, every single day of my life has been worse than the day before it. So that means that every single day that you see me, that's on the worst day of my life."
--Peter Gibbons (Office Space)